Novel & Cerita Crooked Kingdom By Leigh Bardugo

Chapter 5: Marriage II Third Person’s POV The bright yellow hue of the horizon mellowed to orange as the sun slowly hid in the embrace of the clouds. The grand manor of the Valerius king family stood at the central territory of the Rogue capital along with the Cavalier king family and the Sanguis king family. The central territory is home to the nobles, generals and the wealthy citizens at the top of the Rogue kingdom’s hierarchy. The black ivory walls of the grand manor shone with a repressed authority.

"Everything that Celestia and the Alliance have told you about this war and why it's happening is a lie." I narrowed my eyes on him, but he just took a breath before looking me square in the eye and continuing. "You saw the people in there. You saw how it's driving them mad, and forcing them to shift into their alter forms. The Beastial Kingdom didn't start this war; Celestia did. They corrupted our king on the day they were supposed to sign a peace treaty. They did something to him that forced his dragon to the surface in a blind rage, instantly voiding the treaty between kingdoms, and therefore restarting the war that we were trying to end. That king came back to the Beastial kingdom after

his whisper was conspiratory. Mare nodded. He was right. Her memory of the king's library was still fresh and she recalled the large collection of leather-bound books, pages yellowed, some curled up with age. All covered in dust. Surely there would be something about dragons there. Records would have been kept by the umbers. All she had to do was sneak in and out without being seen. Easier said than done. She would have to avoid the prince. Then a thought occurred to her and she frowned. “Why do you want to help me, Hegi?”

I walked away from the village lights, feeling the world shift; tiny, subtle, but definite… under my footsteps. Ava was a weapon. Gregon was a monster. The King was dead weight. Liam was a child playing dress-up. And I… I was the only one willing to shape the ruins into something worthy. The people’s fear was my ink. Their anger was my kindling. And the Reigns? The Reigns was about to learn who should have worn its crown. I smiled now, slow and certain. Let the seeds grow. Let them bloom into fire so that in time, I will harvest the ashes…

It was the past clawing its way out — her family’s oath, reborn in secret. Footsteps echoed behind her. Luca’s voice came, low and tired. “You shouldn’t be here.” She turned to him, eyes glowing with cold defiance. “Neither should you. But we both have ghosts to answer to.” He took a slow breath. “What did you find?” She looked back at the crest, her expression unreadable. “Proof that everything we built was built on a lie.” He stepped closer, blood still on his shirt, and for a heartbeat, they stood there — the King and Queen of a crumbling kingdom, caught between love and legacy.

My father may have tried to rule the realm and become a dictator, wanting to reshape the realm in his own image but somewhere deep down for all his faults, he was nowhere close to being as evil as Aodh is. If Aodh defeated us, the realm as we know it would cease to exist. I found the strength to pull myself to my knees, watching Leneve cross the ravine heading for Yggdrasil. I couldn’t let another member of my family get hurt. Like a sweeping dark cloud of dust, Leneve released the darkness inside her instantly causing the reanimated dark army to perish. If she could find the strength, so could I. I reach down deep inside, my mind on Hunji and my brothers. Seeing the state of the other knigh

Nikolai’s hand tightened on my waist, his body going rigid with barely leashed violence. I stepped forward before he could respond, chin high, voice calm and laced with steel. “Collateral was a long time ago, Mr. Krov. I am Liora Volkov—his queen and partner. And I’m here because this concerns my daughter’s life as much as your territories. Shall we waste time on outdated insults, or discuss how we both bleed Elias dry?” A beat of silence. Then Sergei’s lips twitched into something almost like respect. He gestured to the seats. “Bold. Sit.”

Below them, the city was a carpet of lights, oblivious to the tragedy 900 feet in the air. "The lullabies were a lie, Elena," Madeline said, her back to her daughter. "The only truth is the Crown. The Broken Crown isn't just an organization. It’s a philosophy. We destroy the old world to make room for the new one. And Leo… Leo is the foundation of the new world."

A priest in dark robes lifted a silver bowl filled with burning herbs that smelled sharp and bitter. “The kingdom is fire,” he intoned. “Fire,” the court echoed. “The king is its shield.” “Shield.” “Loyalty is the blood that binds stone and sky.” “Loyalty.” Elowen resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Human rituals had a flair for the dramatic. Corvin stood with one palm resting lightly on the hilt of his sword: not tense, not relaxed, simply ready. His jet-black hair fell in loose waves now, the lamplight catching along its edges like dark glass. He looked carved from calm fury.

If she perished, then so too did the only bridge between dragons and men he could still imagine. He returned to Qombinia bearing two corpses: King Rhaedon’s broken armor and Queen Lythissa’s sunstone crown. The court lowered its eyes, for the last remnant of mercy in their king drained away like blood from a mortal wound. Drakonios swore before the Obsidian Flame: I will scourge every realm that raised arms this day. I will make ashes of their palaces and dust of their names. And so the old, kind Drakonios vanished, replaced by the merciless monarch known in whispers as the Heartless King.